So How Well Are Arsenal Going To Do Next Season?
You would have heard by now our captain-to-be Gilberto Silva telling Dog Breath to effectively shut his mouth after the Chelsea player said that it’s a two horse race between them and Manchester United.
But despite the obvious sh*t-stirring does the diver have a point?
There were glimpses of what Arsenal were capable of last season but can we be consistent enough to really challenge for the league? I for one am optimistic about next season, you have to be right? Otherwise it’s not worth bothering kicking a ball!
But how many players do we have in our squad who are capable of giving a consistently high-level performance week in and week out?
Judging on last season, the only real candidates we honestly say gave a decent performance for the majority of the season would be; Toure, Clichy, Gilberto, Fabregas and Van Persie.
That just isn’t enough.
A big problem we had last season was surrendering the initiative by conceding the first goal on far too many occasions. It could have been that Kolo and Gallas needed time to get acquainted with each other last season so it’ll be interesting to find out whether they can actually play well together in defence next season.
People will point to the wide areas as being a problem to address before the season starts aswell but the fact is that even with an under-par Hleb, Freddie and Rosicky we still managed to create a lot of chances in the majority of our games.
We will never have a problem creating scoring opportunities with the genius that is Cesc Fabregas - our mini Bergkamp/Vieira hybrid.
I would much rather prefer us to concentrate on addressing our problems of conceding sloppy goals from set-pieces.
The other main problem we had was sticking the ball in the net.
We scored 63 goals in the league last season, only one behind Chelsea - but a staggering 20 behind Champions Manchester United. The season before that when we finished 4th on the last day we notched up 68 goals.
That is a big difference to the 87 goals we scored when we finished second to Chelsea in the 2004-2005 season.
Everyone hopes that Eduardo da Silva is the man to convert the huge amount of chances we create in most of our games and if he does so that will certainly buy us at least an extra 10-15 in a season.
So can we do it next season?
July 7th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Hopefully Eduardo will play in a role which he is accustomed, as I think it is vitally important we hit the ground running. I have a sneaky suspiscion that all people writing Arsenal off before a ball has even been kicked could be in for a rude awakening and that the selling of Thierry will prove a blessing in disguise.
July 7th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
There will be no more excuses for halfbaked performances like all the 1-1 draws and Wenger whining that the world cup took its toll.
July 7th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
we will win the league…
oh by the way… we just signed another striker/winger/forward from Caen [link]
July 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Considering Henry, the great player he was, didn’t help us out too much last season, I can only see us improving on our points total - although I dont think we will challenge for the title just yet. With only Henry leaving, the young players having had a full season under their belts, and the bedding into the new stadium (which may have cost us two points against the likes of Villa last season), it follows that we can only improve. Replacing Aliadiere and Baptista with Bentdner and Eduardo seems a step up to me - the former pair showing only glimpses of quality amongst some seriously awful displays (see Sheffield Utd game at xmas) while the latter are proven goalscorers in lesser leagues. Our major weakness will once again be a lack of muscle in the middle of the park, especially on the wings, where Hleb and Rosicky havent given us enough in attack or defence. Adebayor was a revelation, not because of his finishing ability, but because of his commitment to the cause - if all our players had his attitude we would definitely be challenging for top spot. One player who definitely did not show the same determination as Ade last season was Henry.
July 7th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
The weight of expectation should help Arsenal outperform in 07/08. See my latest post: [link]
July 7th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
you dirty cockney twats will be relegated. wenger will have to be a rent boy to pay the debts and youll go into administration and die like you deserve.
Hala Campeones!
July 7th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I think that Drogba is trying to convince himself that Chelsea will be competing with Man Utd, but I’m not convinced. Liverpool aren’t there yet either. Realistically, I think that if we get Tevez and United don’t, then it will be touch and go between us and them.
If United get Tevez, then it will be between us and Chelsea and Liverpool for second, because united are going to be too strong for 5 years. If united get Tevez, then I will get the same feeling that I got when they got Cantona and when they got Keane - a horrible sick feeling in my stomach. If Arsene wins one more title in that scenario, I will be surprised - he is unwilling to make that final deal with the devil that the Red Devils like to make.
Nevertheless, Arsene Wenger is my hero and the club is streets ahead of what it was. We are a good bet for second or third and it will be interesting to see Eduardo take up Wrighty’s old poacher role. We need more than just him though - with a winner like Tevez we could really kick on.
July 7th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
@ relegation, I hate people like you. People of your ilk have no clue about football, so you just go around banging your chest shouting Yernited while winding up everyone you can. The fact that you even go to Arsenal sites just to talk crap, is more than enough evidence of that fact.
July 8th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Defensively Wenger has done nothing to remedy last season’s problems. I can still see Arsenal letting in stupid goals all season long, so the chances of winning anything at all are remote. I’m not convinced of Eboue defensively at all, Senderos is pretty hopeless and Djourou has a lot to learn. Clichy will get even better, but Toure for all his good points is a panicker and is terrible on crosses. Toure should be right back and Wenger should be looking at getting a big central defender who can organise and head out crosses. Otherwise I think next season will be a slight improvement on the last but not by much.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:26 am
your squad is good..better than a 4th place team…but not a premiership winning side
July 8th, 2007 at 1:36 am
fact Ahsan….fact (spot on)
James (spot on)
I’m tired of posting just for the sake of it.
We need a signing in defence and one more winger who can score 12-15 goals a season. thats all we need right now.
July 8th, 2007 at 2:26 am
This season for arsenal will be the same as all the other as far as wenger is concerned.
Premiership Champion’s League and Fa Cup any thing else in wenger’s eye’s would be a stap back and that is not his style.
The title is not lost before the season start’s and because some muppet of chelsea player says it is belive me.
If drogba think’s those comment’s are going to matter once it come’s to football than he can think again and it will not dampen the spirit’s of any arsenal player’s either because they are vastly more exsperienced then chelsea are and our lad’s as young as they are have played on the biggest stage chelsea’s havnt.
Bring on the season and bring on utd chelsea liverpool barcelona real madrid tottingham and every one else.
July 8th, 2007 at 3:00 am
Fak tottenhams, im drunk.,
July 8th, 2007 at 3:49 am
We have all potentials to do well if Cec Fab plays that cool mature game without thinkinh about HEN too much. He has to pave his way regardless of Wenger or HEN.
I see van, Cec, Walcott and Adebayo as well as Denilson scoring real goals tis time. But we need a defender badly to help the rather slow Gallas
July 8th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Arsene will need to buy a couple of established proven players if Arsenal are going to win the title. Gallas year two and injury free will mean the defense will be strong - although we may be a little short on height. Desire to defend will make the difference a la Cannavaro - do we have a player who loves to defend?
I would like to see a top quality striker and winger to join which would make the difference. We need goals! Cesc and Gilberto are the right partnership in the middle. If Walcott can make the step up then we may not need that winger but I dont see him making the difference based on last years performances.
Lets look at the opposition: Chelsea were not better than Arsenal last year head to head and it took a couple of wonder goals for them to match us. Arsenal also didnt lose out to MU head to head and despite winning the league they have their issues. Arsenals problem continues to be with lesser teams where it is necessary to grind out results.
I would say our best chance of glory is in the Champions League in 08.
July 8th, 2007 at 6:11 am
We may fluke one of the cups but I’m not encouraged by the loss of Henry and minimal signings while I note that other than Man U and Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs and even Aston Villa have strengthened significantly through the transfer market. I hate to say it but it looks like we’ll finish 6th at best. The top 6 for next season will be:
Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:18 am
We are yet to sign other players apart from Eduado who also is not yet proven in a strong league. Despite the departure of Thierry, we still have players who can perform in the league and even win it. the problem is mainly consistency, we beat Man U home and away and also lost unceremoniously to the Hammers home and away, we would also beat a better team 6-0 and lose to Sheffield 1-0 the next game . We lost to one big team in the league but got problems with the mediocre teams. We also performed poorly at home with so many draws although we had one loss. I think this season will be quite different. RVP, Adebayo, Theo, Rosicky and Gallas will all try to show their true potential and we have no injuries, we shall have a great season in all competitions. Go gunners….. I am a gunner for life.
July 8th, 2007 at 8:26 am
when i went watch our domestic league my friend ask me whay the players are playing so bad i response
July 8th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Dear Relegation
You sad small minded manc cunt, stick to your own websites, live in your council flats, smoke crack, abuse your wives/girlfriends…… In other words, just carry on as normal!! Just remember one thing, we’re not jealous of you, we hated you even when you were shite!!!! You lost ‘horse face cunt’ and won the title,we’ve lost TH, watch RVP come to fore!!! I love it when we’re totally written off cos that’s when we ’shock the world’
So fuck off and fester in that pissole you call home!!! ARSENE KNOWS…………………… You know it makes sense!!!
July 8th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Sadly, we havent shown enough hunger in the transfer market to seriously challenge for the title. Wenger has said himself that winning isnt everything. We can expect some more bargain basement buys…and hopefully shunting the spuds ,at the last, for fourth place.
I used to cry when Arsenal lost games. Now …im used to it. Doesnt look like changing anytime soon. The opposition strengthening ferociously.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
edy………….. Calm down,,,,,,, TRUST ARSENE………………… Arsene knows!!!!!
July 8th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Saint you’re highly mistaken if you think that spending money will guaranty those weaker teams in the league any more success than they’re already having. Sure Newcastle shouldn’t finish so badly, but it’s a joke to thiink the top 4 will change any time soon. It’s not about the amount of money spent, but what it is spent on. And if you look at Spurs they’ve thrown a lot of money down the pan and haven’t bought a single world class or even potentially world class player. Their entire squad adds up to about two or three of those, unlike Arsenal who arguably have almost an entire first team of either world class or potentially world class players. Arsenal are simply a cut above those teams below and should be closer to first place than fifth place this year. If you want a way of comparing teams then one possible way is considering how well you think certain teams will do in the CL. During Arsenal’s really awful past two seasons they’ve still been in a final (and were winning til late vs Barca) and they were knocked out in the knock out stages by a team they should have easily beaten this year. They always win therir group lately and considering their seeding tha`t’s unlikely to change. Spurs and Newcastle in the CL? LOL. Scraping through the group stage would be a truly great achievement for two teams that persistently can’t even cut it in the UEFA cup. Light weight.
July 8th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I mean think about it. The sorts of teams which the English teams are getting knocked out of the UEFA Cup by are almost all lightweight. If a team will always make such hard work of pretty crap European teams they will find even the group stage of a CL horribly difficult. Sevilla are one of the few decent teams to break that rule lately and even they are not quite top class in Spain.
Just consider this if Spurs are hugely out performing and are considering their past two season great, whilst Arsenal are terribly under performing and considering their last two season awful and STILL Spurs can’t keep up, what does that say about when Arsenal finally grab some form for any extensive period of a season? There is no chance of Spurs, Newcastle or anyone else like that doing better than Arsenal just because they’re spending more money.
July 8th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
2003 dats da last time man u won da title b4 2007 dey didnt win it 4 3 years and dey sold dere best striker last year ruuuuuuuuuuuuud van nistelroy now arsenal r in the same situation sold our star playa havnt won it 4 three years but its all gooner change dis year u wil c :p
July 8th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
How sad that Yids come to Arsenal websites to slag us off. I would never think of visiting of a Sp*rs, Chelsea or United site and posting a message - in fact I honestly don’t actually know any blog sites for those teams. I’m just not that sad enough to even care or search for them.
But if you’re happy with looking envious over the fence at your neighbours then at least keep it quiet!
But back to Arsenal, I honestly think we can challenge for the big honours this season as long as we get a bit of luck with injuries (like United did last season) and don’t have players like Van Persie out for long periods again.
Good point made about the soft goals we’re prone to concede though. So many times we’ve made it so difficult on ourselves by a lack of concentration or a individual defensive error. If we don’t cut those out then our best chance of silverware would be in a cup competition.
It’ll be interesting to see who will play upfront next season though. Obviously Van Persie will start most of the games when fit, but will the boss persist with Adebayor or throw Da Silva in at the deep end straight away?
July 8th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
RVPs season dis season his left foot is amazin hes gona b beta dan dat guy whats his name dat guy all arsenal fans used to love whats his name ?erm…erm..erm i cant remember can sum1 healp me out
July 8th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
RVP is absolutely vital to us now… but I feel he will live up to this pressure and score 25-30 goals
July 8th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I Still trust Arsene Wenger!
There is no chance of Chelsea,Spurs or anyone else like that doing better than Arsenal just because they’re spending more money.'’Arsenal is Arsenal.'’
July 8th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I have to laugh at Spurs and the way they think they’ll even get close to us next season!
Wasting £16 million on Darren Bent is not going to make them finish above us! I am certain that Eduardo da Silva will score more goals than him.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
dudu has the site for goal but i still think he needs time to mature.
i have no doubt he could be the perfect Henry sub.
but ofcos he needs anather partner other than Adebayor.
the question is who?
July 11th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
the anser is walcott my friend he will shine this season along with rvp and emanual you see hes had 2 seasons learnin his trade in the premiership its time 4 him 2 jump 2 another level